Forest River Acquisition Revitalizing Wakarusa

Both Utilimaster Corp. and the town it’s leaving got a boost this week with the sale of the company’s former buildings in Wakarusa.

As reported by the South Bend Tribune, Spartan Motors Inc., Utilimaster’s parent company, sold 13 of its Wakarusa buildings to Forest River, according to FM Stone Commercial, which negotiated the sale. The buildings sit on 91 acres along Indiana 19 in Wakarusa, and Utilimaster already is using two of the buildings.

Utilimaster will temporarily use three buildings in Wakarusa for its truck body operation, according to Spartan Motors.

Officials from Forest River, a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. company, did not return a call to The Tribune.

On Wednesday, Jeff Troxel, town manager for Wakarusa, said the announcement was good news for the community. He said he believes Forest River already has moved its Prime Time RV business into the Wakarusa campus.

Troxel is hopeful Forest River will make full use of the former Utilimaster campus.

And if that happens, more workers will be coming into Wakarusa to help replace the 600 to 800 people who normally came to the Utilimaster facilities.